


Temporal Anomaly

by Mondhase



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Episode: s07e04 Out of the Past (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mondhase/pseuds/Mondhase
Summary: One-shot, set right at the end of episode 7x04 "Out of the Past". Daniel Sousa tries to come to terms with what happened and gets some support from an unlikely source.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	Temporal Anomaly

He was dead.

His life, over.

His career, his friends, _everything_ , ripped away from him in the split second it had taken his opponent to pull the trigger.

Not that Agent Daniel Sousa did not appreciate the fact that that trigger had belonged to a stun gun and he _was_ in fact still breathing – _and_ pleasantly bullet-free. Yet to have his entire life come to a crashing hold in a single moment was still not what he had expected when getting out of bed this morning.

 _This morning._ He scoffed at the thought.

After all, it wasn’t that same day anymore. Hell, it wasn’t even that same _decade_ anymore!

According to Coulson’s people – this future SHIELD team or whoever they were – their time ship had taken them to the ‘70s, their exact arrival date yet to be determined.

Which was what the other agents were doing right now, giving Sousa the opportunity to just hang back and observe for the moment. Usually he would have taken advantage of this downtime – no matter how brief it would be – to adjust his thoughts and clear his head, but right now the mere idea of that was entirely inconceivable.

Instead he watched closely as the future agents made use of their incredible technology to not just pin-point _when_ and _where_ they were, but also to try and find the body-snatching alien robots Coulson had mentioned in his impromptu briefing earlier, to make sure they did not wreck history. 

Body-snatching.

Alien.

Robots.

Sousa leaned heavily against the console behind him as he finally allowed that thought to fully sink in. God knew he had seen his fair share of incredible – and sometimes downright _crazy_ – things ever since joining the SSR, but this time it really seemed as if they had hit the ultimate jackpot in the outlandish enemies lottery.

Once the imminent threat had been dealt with, he could not wait to tell Peggy about…

 _Peggy_.

Sousa’s face fell as the harsh reality of his own personal situation hit him once again.

_Right, dead._

How could he have forgotten?

He would never get to tell Peggy Carter about the incredible discoveries he had made today. He would also never get to warn her about Hydra rearing its ugly head again – this time _inside_ of SHIELD of all places!

Hell, he would not even get to blow Howard Stark’s mind with tales of time-travelling planes or evil alien robots and somehow that part felt like a much bigger loss than it probably should have.

No, as far as his friends were concerned, he was dead, having died a hero in service of SHIELD. There would be no coming back from this.

“Hey, you alright there, pal?”

The tentative voice ripped Sousa out of his musings. He turned to his left to see one of Coulson’s people standing just a few paces away from him. The fact that he had not noticed his approach told the agent more about his current state of mind than he would have cared for, yet it did not really surprise him, either. After all, even for him these last few hours had been anything but merely ‘another day in the office’.

The young man standing in front of him now was one of the future SHIELD agents Sousa had not been introduced to yet. He was dressed in a light grey suit, a short red tie and a folded handkerchief in his breast pocket completing the outfit. His attire was in line with the rest of the team’s – perfectly appropriate for 1955 – and yet Sousa’s eyes narrowed as he sensed something…off… about him.

His expression quickly relaxed again, though, once he realised what it was: The kid basically had ‘rookie’ written all over him.

“Yes, of course,” he finally replied. “It just... takes a moment to get used to... all this.” He gestured at the interior of the plane, not even knowing where to start to name things that confused him.

“Yeah, tell me about it, right?” the kid replied, a goofy grin spreading on his face as he leaned against the metal wall beside him. “I mean, for me it obviously wasn’t so much the plane or the tech that was weird. More like... _everything else_ , really.”

He chuckled at what Sousa could only assume was meant to be a funny remark, although he failed to see the humour in it. He did, however, pick up on the implied information.

“Wait, so you’re not from their time, either?” he asked, nodding his head in the direction of Coulson and his team.

“Nah, I’m from the future.”

Sousa frowned, prompting his opponent to elaborate.

“A _later_ future is what I mean. Like, eighty years or so after when those guys live,” he pointed out, mimicking Sousa’s nod in the team’s direction.

“Of course you are.” There was no disbelief in the agent’s voice, just acknowledgement of what was merely another insane piece of information to add to an ever growing list.

He pushed himself away from the console behind him now, his cane clicking softly on the floor as he walked over to one of the emergency seats. The uncomfortable pressure of his prosthesis when he moved to sit down was actually a welcome sensation right now, steadying him against a world that seemed to unravel all around him.

“Well,” Sousa now continued slowly, still trying to fully grasp the rules of time travel, “I guess since that means your time isn’t part of Coulson’s team’s history, at least you actually get to go home once your role in all of this is done. Right?”

“What?” the young man replied, seemingly baffled by the question. “Oh... huh... no. My timeline is toast. There is no place for me to go back to.”

Sousa’s shock at those words must have displayed on his face vividly, because the kid hurried to explain.

“But don’t worry, that’s actually a good thing! Trust me, my future sucked. Hard.”

“Worse than body-snatching robots from another planet that want to wipe out humanity and take over the Earth?” he wondered, one eyebrow raised sceptically.

Daniel Sousa knew basically nothing about the young man in front of him, but the amused light-heartedness with which he now dismissed the question immediately ticked two boxes that seemed awfully familiar. He had seen these traits combined in soldiers far too many times during the war:

Incredibly brave.

And incredibly mad.

“What, those guys? Nah, piece of cake!” the young man proclaimed, making a throwaway gesture in the process. “I mean, sure, in my time we didn’t have alien robots. Just plain old aliens. And they weren’t trying to wipe out humanity or take over the Earth, either, but that was basically just because Earth was already nothing but a bunch of rubble in space. And ninety-nine percent of humanity was already dead, so they were happy with merely enslaving the rest of us, not killing us. Not _most_ of us, anyway.”

“You’re... _not_ joking, are you?” Sousa wondered, honestly not sure anymore. At least not with the way the kid’s voice and his words seemed to be telling entirely different stories.

“Nope. Wish that I were.” The young man shook his head, momentarily appearing actually earnest for once. He quickly lightened up again, though. “But, hey, like I said, that future isn’t going to happen any longer, so I’m good. Now I’m an official citizen of the early twenty-first century and couldn’t be happier about it. Trust me, you’re gonna love it, too. They’ve got trees, the internet, Silicon Valley, Zima and as many lemons and oranges as you could possibly want. We’re just gonna have to kick some Chronicom butt first and then we’re good to go back. Finally.”

“O...kay,” Sousa merely replied, a mixture of confusion and amusement creasing his forehead. He had no idea what half of those things meant and wasn’t quite sure about the significance of the rest. Yet he did get the thoroughly positive grade this part of the future had earned in the kid’s book. Not that any time period could probably seem that horrible, going by his reference point, but still... If the agent _had_ to live out the rest of his life in a time other than his own, he certainly preferred one with things to look forward to. And _without_ aliens having taken over the planet. Robot or otherwise.

“I’m Deke, by the way,” the young man from the future suddenly announced, extending his hand eagerly. The sitting agent did not hesitate to seize it in a firm hold and shake it briefly. 

“Daniel.”

“Well, Daniel, I’m glad that, even though we couldn’t stop Hydra, at least we got to keep you from getting shot. _And_ that I’m not the only temporal anomaly on the team anymore,” he added with a smirk.

Sousa grimaced slightly at that, but still nodded.

“Yeah, well, I’m definitely glad, too. About the ‘not getting shot’ part, that is. As far as being a temporal anomaly is concerned, I’m not quite sure how to feel about that bit yet.”

A dark shadow settled over Deke’s features at those words. He fidgeted with his hands for a brief second, before crossing his arms in front of his chest. When he finally replied to Sousa’s remark, he avoided the agent’s eyes, his voice deadly serious.

“I just want you to know that I’m really sorry about that.”

“Sorry... how?” The sudden change in the kid’s demeanour made no sense to the older agent, yet he had the feeling that this was more than a general expression of sympathy.

“Well, for one I’m sorry you had to leave your life and your time behind like that. I mean, mine were horrible, yeah, but I’m sure yours weren’t.” At this point Deke hesitated for a moment, but Sousa could tell that there was something else. Something he did not really want to say. As the agent remained quiet, however, the young man finally went on, seemingly unable to stand the silence.

“And, eh...well,” he began, glancing nervously at Sousa, “I’m also sorry I didn’t stop Malick when I had the chance. Maybe if I had, Hydra never would have come after you in the first place.”

“When you say ‘stop’, you mean...”

“‘Kill’, yeah,” Deke confirmed. “We actually met Malick during our previous time jump, twenty-four years ago, when he was still a kid. Before he had even joined Hydra. I could have ended it right then and there, but—”

“But you don’t kill kids who haven’t even done anything yet,” Sousa finished the sentence for him. He leaned back in his seat at this point, remaining entirely calm while Deke continued to scramble his explanation.

“Yeah, no, but—”

“And I’m sure you don’t just go around messing up history, either. After all, I can attest to that part,” Sousa pointed out with a slight grimace. His opponent seemed unable to let go of his assumed responsibility, though, despite the agent’s remarks.

“I didn’t let him go to protect history, though. I just... didn’t want to kill him. And now look where that’s gotten us.” He shrugged briefly, indicating their surroundings in the process.

Sousa did not respond to that right away. Instead he took a moment to look at Deke more closely, to get a better read on him.

His earlier instinct had clearly been right, as the young man was a complete rookie as far as his time with SHIELD was concerned. Given the world he had grown up in, it also didn’t surprise the agent that he reminded him of some of the soldiers he had met back during the war. Yet there was also something else about him. Something in his eyes that spoke of wanting to move past the horrors he had lived through. Of wanting to be better. Of wanting the _world_ to be better.

Agent Sousa finally rose to his feet again, his left hand gripping his cane tightly until he had found his balance. Then he took a step forward and reached out with his right hand to place it firmly on Deke’s shoulder. He looked the younger man directly in the eyes as he spoke.

“Well, for one it’s gotten _me_ here, hasn’t it?” he asked, one eyebrow raised and the corner of his mouth quirking upwards ever so slightly.

As he continued, however, he let go of Deke again and took a few steps towards the back of the room, a trace of frustration seeping into his voice.

“Coulson said that after my ‘death’ I was being remembered as a _hero_ by SHIELD. But honestly, I don’t see why anyone would think of me that way. I didn’t save SHIELD. In fact, it’s taken me years to even scratch the surface of Hydra’s infiltration of the agency, and once I did, I got myself killed instead of actually doing anything about it.” The agent came to an abrupt halt at this point, shaking his head in anger over his own incompetence. He still couldn’t believe how blind he had been for all these years. How blind he had been right until the end, in fact, at least in regards to the extent of Hydra’s influence.

However, Agent Sousa knew that this was neither the time nor the place to come to terms with his own demons. Instead he turned back around to face the young man from the future again, a sense of hopefulness settling on his features.

“But it looks like that thanks to your team, I’ll have a second chance to make a real difference. I’ve fought Nazis in the war, I’ve taken on dangerous megalomaniacs and crazy powered people for the SSR and SHIELD, but I _never_ got to go up against anyone who actually wanted to wipe out all of humanity. Seems like an enemy worth taking out to me.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Deke agreed with a small nod, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at his lips.

Sousa could feel his own resolve to look ahead ­– at least for now – rub off on the young man, seemingly absolving him of at least some of his guilt. He had no idea how long this would last, for either of them. For whatever it was worth, though, he knew that they had actually managed to help each other with their little exchange.

“Well, I’m glad we established that,” Coulson suddenly chimed in as he approached the two, “because we’re pretty sure we know who the Chronicoms are going to target next. Before we can go after them, though, it’s time for a change of clothes.” He eyed both Deke’s and Sousa’s outfits at this point, prompting the latter to glance down at his suit and vest in confusion.

“Why, what’s wrong with—”

Coulson’s raised eyebrows cut him off before he had even finished the sentence.

“Right. Time travel. I guess the fashion sense these days might be a little different than what I’m used to,” the agent conceded. This time it wasn’t his opponent’s eyebrows, but the wide smirk on his lips that stopped Sousa from talking any further.

“Yeah, just a _little_...”

At this point Coulson began to usher both him and Deke out of the room, that unsettling smirk never leaving his lips.

Agent Sousa had known that his life was over. That his career, his friends, _everything_ had been ripped away from him.

Somehow, though, he had never expected that to even include his three-piece-suit.

As far as his new life was concerned, he suddenly felt a lot more wary about it than he had just a few moments ago...

**The End**


End file.
